The Château de la Gaudinière is a
château
A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...
located in
Nantes
Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...
, in the Breil-Barberie district,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
History
The Château de la Gaudinière was constructed in the 18th century. Before the
French Revolution, it was owned by Louis Chaurand, a wealthy Nantes shipowner with connections to the
Beauharnais
The House of Beauharnais (or ''House of Leuchtenberg''; ) is a French noble family. It is now headed by the Duke of Leuchtenberg, descendant in male line of Eugène de Beauharnais.
History
Originating in Brittany, the Beauharnais (or Beau ...
and
Tascher de la Pagerie families.
In 1814, the château passed to the d'Aux family, then to the Perrien family. During the
Restoration, it was acquired by the Goüin family, friends, and former neighbors of
Balzac in
Tours
Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...
. The estate then included a main residence with a courtyard of honor, a chapel, an English-style garden with an orangery, an orchard with a pond, and a wooded area. It provided an ideal setting for a ''
gentleman farmer
In the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, a gentleman farmer is a landowner who has a farm (gentleman's farm) as part of his estate and who farms as a hobby rather than for profit or sustenance.
The Collins English Dictionary defin ...
'' interested in the emerging trend of ornamental gardens and exotic plants from the Americas, such as magnolias and bald cypresses.
In 1857, the château and its park were purchased by banker J. Brousset, a relative of the Goüin family. The 8-hectare park underwent significant expansions and enhancements with the collaboration of landscape architect Provost. Between 1864 and 1873, Brousset commissioned architect Léon Lenoir to construct the current château on the site of the previous residence, though it has since undergone substantial alterations. The red brick façade contrasts with the white tuffeau stone typically used in Nantes'
follies
''Follies'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman.
The plot centers on a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on the ''Ziegfeld Follies ...
and grand bourgeois residences along the
Erdre
The Erdre (; ) is a long river in western France, right tributary to the Loire. Its source is in the Maine-et-Loire '' department'', near La Pouëze. It flows through the ''departments'' Maine-et-Loire and Loire-Atlantique. The Erdre meets the ...
River. In 1864, a
giant sequoia
''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (also known as the giant sequoia, giant redwood, Sierra redwood or Wellingtonia) is a species of coniferous tree, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae. Giant sequoia specimens are the la ...
from North America was planted near the château in the upper park, which expanded to 17 hectares by 1881.
In 1918, the Belot family, another banking dynasty, acquired the estate and restored the park with the assistance of the Lizé brothers, renowned Nantes horticulturist-landscapers. They sold the park to the city of Nantes in 1936, part of which was used to create the
Pont du Cens Cemetery. The château and its immediate surroundings were sold to the ''Fondation d'Auteuil'' in 1942.
In 1948, the ''Caisse régionale d'assurance maladie'' (CRAM) acquired the property to establish a functional rehabilitation center, adding 7,500 square meters of new buildings over the years. However, located in a wooded area, further expansion was not feasible, making relocation inevitable.
In 1992, the city of Nantes repurchased the château and its surroundings, demolishing the CRAM buildings to restore the château's original exterior appearance. As of the early 21st century, the château remains unoccupied.
Park
File:Nantes - Parc Gaudiniere (1).jpg
File:Nantes - Parc de la Gaudinière- 001.jpg, View of the park
File:Nantes - Parc de la Gaudinière- 004.jpg
See also
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Pont du Cens Cemetery
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History of Nantes
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Châteaux of the Loire Valley
The châteaux of the Loire Valley () are part of the architectural heritage of the historic towns of Amboise, Angers, Blois, Chinon, Montsoreau, Orléans, Saumur, and Tours along the river Loire in France. They illustrate Renaissance ideals of des ...
*
English landscape garden
The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...
References
Bibliography
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{{Portal, Architecture, Gardening, France, History
Gaudiniere
18th-century architecture
19th-century architecture
Nantes
Châteaux in France
Historic house museums in France